Drinking water with toxic algae linked to Alzheimer's?

[Oscar]

Drinking water could be poisoned with toxic algae linked to Alzheimer’s

[ http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/science ... imers.html ]

Blue-green algae is increasing in Britain's lakes and poses a serious threat to health, scientists have warned

6:31PM GMT 26 Feb 2015

Britain’s lakes have seen a huge increase in toxic algae which is linked to Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease, scientists have warned.

Researchers at the University of Nottingham and McGill University in Canada have discovered that populations of cyanobacteria — also known as blue-green algae — have significantly increased in Britain’s waterways since the 1800s.

Colonies of blue-green algae poses a serious threat to drinking water because many types contain toxins which can cause damage to the liver and nervous system and have been linked to neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and Lou Gehrig’s Disease.

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The rise is being driven by pollution from industrial sites and sewers which pump out the nitrogen and phosphorus that algae need to survive.

Most water treatment plants do not regularly look for cyanobacterial toxins in the water supply, the authors warn, amid fears that the microbes could be present in drinking water.

The most common symptoms of acute exposure to harmful algal blooms are skin rash or irritation, gastroenteritis and respiratory distress.

Chronic, low dose exposures over a lifetime may also result in liver tumours or hormone disruption, the researchers warn.

“We found that cyanobacterial populations have expanded really strongly in many lakes since the advent of industrial fertilizers and rapid urban growth,” says Zofia Taranu of McGill University.

“While we already knew that cyanobacteria prefer warm and nutrient-rich conditions, our study is also the first to show that the effect of nutrients, such as phosphorus and nitrogen, overwhelm those of global warming.”

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Researchers from France, Italy, Spain, the UK, Malaysia, and across Canada contributed to the new research which for the first time has demonstrated the growing problem.

“Our work shows that we need to work harder as a society to reduce nutrient discharges to surface waters,” says Irene Gregory-Eaves, an associate professor of biology at McGill and co-author of the study.